“Progress in dialogue is shortcut to EU talks date”
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration Suzana Grubjesic has said a visible and sustainable progress in the dialogue with Pristina was a key shortcut that will lead to Serbia's getting a conditional date for the start of EU accession negotiations by the end of the year.
(KosovoCompromiseStuff) Friday, November 02, 2012
Commenting on the rumors getting around that Serbia could get the date in December, Grubjesic said that it depended on Brussels.
"The concrete steps should be defined by the European Council if it decides to recommend a conditional date for the opening of negotiations with Serbia in December. We know for now that a wording 'visible and sustainable progress in the dialogue with Pristina' is being used," Grubjesic said for Friday's edition of Press, a Belgrade-based daily.
Asked whether it meant that the actual resumption of the dialogue between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Hasim Taci was of key importance, or the only shortcut to the beginning of negotiations, she said no.
"We need to implement everything that was agreed in the technical dialogue," she said. The dialogue between Dacic and Taci will likely be continued in Brussels on November 7, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affair and Security Policy Catherine Ashton as a facilitator.
"The concrete steps should be defined by the European Council if it decides to recommend a conditional date for the opening of negotiations with Serbia in December. We know for now that a wording 'visible and sustainable progress in the dialogue with Pristina' is being used," Grubjesic said for Friday's edition of Press, a Belgrade-based daily.
Asked whether it meant that the actual resumption of the dialogue between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Hasim Taci was of key importance, or the only shortcut to the beginning of negotiations, she said no.
"We need to implement everything that was agreed in the technical dialogue," she said. The dialogue between Dacic and Taci will likely be continued in Brussels on November 7, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affair and Security Policy Catherine Ashton as a facilitator.
